The Taxi Driver
Episode 6
Ejike has always loved vegetable soup and his wife Uju knows this. He likes it when it is spiced up with a lot of stock fish locally called ‘okporoko’ as well as ‘kanda.’ He likes it when he is eating and he is chewing the small small ‘kanda’ with the vegetables. Nothing else is more enjoyable to him like the audour of okporoko spiced with ugu and water leave. So he did not waste any time while washing his hands.
“Oh! God! It is very good to be married. I was suffering when I was single. Now, I can come home and enjoy a meal cooked by my wife instead of going to eat mama put.” Ejike said in his heart as he opened the plate of eba and also opened the poisoned soup. He took some of the eba with speed and moulded a lump the size of his throat. He dipped the lump of eba in the poisoned soup and started taking it towards his mouth.
But just before the lump of eba got to his mouth, Uju’s phone started ringing. Ejike paused, brought down his hand and dropped the eba inside the soup. He stood up from the dining table and decided to go to the sofa where Uju was fast asleep. She was so deeply asleep that she did not hear when her phone rang. Pregnancy could be tiring especially at the early stages.
When Ejike picked up the phone he saw that it was the DPO who was calling his wife’s line. His heart jumped into his stomach.
“Why is the DPO calling my wife?” Ejike asked himself. He became very worried as the memories of what he went through in the hands of the police returned to him. He remembered how he did not take his bath for days while in the cell. The phone rang again, but Ejike decided not to answer the call.
“I hope we are not in trouble again. But if we are in trouble, the DPO should call me and not my wife. Why is he calling her line?” Ejike asked himself.
Ejike dropped the phone on the sofa and he was going back to eat his food when a text message entered the phone. He turned back and picked up the phone again. Uju’s phone is this kind of android phone that shows you the content of a text message even before you open the actual message box. So the content of the message flashed across Uju’s screen. The message was from the DPO.
“Hi honey. I called but you didn’t pick. I guess you were sleeping. I understand the pregnancy is weighing down on you. I just wanted to know if you later added the poison in your husband’s food as we agreed. Update me when you see this text. I love you so much.” The message said.
“The DPO calling my wife ‘honey?” Ejike asked himself. He was so shocked that the smartphone almost fell from his left hand. He was holding the phone with his left hand because he had remnants of eba and soup on the other.
“The DPO asking if my wife has poisoned me as planned? What is going on? How did the DPO know that my wife is pregnant?” Ejike asked himself again. He was confused.
“I don’t think I will eat this food again. I think it is not safe. She may have poisoned it.” Ejike told himself. All these while, Uju did not wake up. Ejike waved his hands around her eyes to be sure she was deeply asleep. She did not move. He tiptoed quietly to the dinning table and picked up the food and went into the kitchen.
From the kitchen, Ejike took the food into the toilet and flushed it. He went to the sink and washed the plates thoroughly. When he was done, he immediately left the house. Uju was yet to wake up from her sleep.
When he came out from the house, Ejike picked up his phone and called Ajunwa his friend.
“Hello Ajunwa. Are you in the hospital?” Ejike asked.
“Yes. I just came out of the operating room. I was attending to a patient. I’m actually on my way driving out of the hospital.” Ajunwa said.
“Please stay right there and wait for me. I will be with you in 15 minutes.” Ejike said.
“Is everything alright? Is your wife Ok? Did you have accident? Why are you panting like a dog that just pursued a rabbit?” Ajunwa aksed.
“None of the above. Just wait for me.” Ejike said.
When he got to the hospital, he went straight to Ajunwa’s office.
“What’s happening? Is everything allright?” Ajunwa asked. He looked at Ejike and saw the fear in his eyes. He knew that all was not well.
“My life is in danger. My wife is sleeping with the DPO and they have agreed to kill me. I have reasons to believe she poisoned my food today.” Ejike said. He was panting like a dog.
“What? Did you eat the food?” Ajunwa asked as he started to examine Ejike’s mouth and eyes as if he was looking for the poison.
“No. I was lucky I discovered it before eating.” Ejike said.
“But look, I want to pretend that I have died. I believe if they discover that I’m still alive, they could find another way to kill me. I want you to call my wife and tell him I’m dead.” Ejike said. Ajunwa was stunned by the bizarre suggestion.
“How can you fake your own death? Are you crazy?” Ajunwa asked with a lot of worries in his eyes.
“Trust me bro. I know what I’m doing. Just do as I say.” Ejike said. Immediately, Ajunwa asked Ejike to remove all his clothes. He put Ejike in a transparent body bag and laid him on a hospital bed. He then called Ejike’s wife and asked him to start coming to the hospital. When Uju got to the hospital, he was told that her husband was dead.
Uju cried bitterly, wailing and shedding crocodile tears. Unknown to her, Ajunwa knows what was going on and Ejike was listening to her pretentious cries from inside the body bag. At some points, Uju came close to the body bag and touched it, and then shook her head. Within her heart, she was happy that Ejike was finally gone.
Later that day when the whole stress was over, Ejike decided not to return to his house while Uju was still there. He moved in with Ajunwa who has a five bedroom flat of his own.
A week later, Uju moved out of Ejike’s house and started living with the DPO. They had a court wedding and there was a lot of dancing, eating and drinking. But unknown to her, Ejike is still alive and the worse is yet to come.
Watch out for Episode 7.
